Introduction to John D. Lee Trial Transcripts

Introduction to John D. Lee Trial Transcripts LaJean Purcell Carruth Two reporters, Adam S. Patterson and Josiah Rogerson, recorded the proceedings of the John D. Lee trials in Pitman shorthand.1 Rogerson and Patterson each recorded the first Lee trial, from jury selection to closing arguments. Patterson made a like record of the second Lee trial. The only extant Rogerson shorthand for the second Lee trial is a single legal plea.2 As independent records of the actual court proceedings, the original Rogerson and Patterson shorthand reports of the first trial largely corroborate and complete each other. And when all their notes are combined, they provide by far the most complete and most accurate record of the John D. Lee trials available. Three contemporary transcripts were made from these shorthand records: the Rogerson transcript, the Boreman transcript, and a partial transcript, probably by Patterson, of the second trial.3 On the surface, the history of the creation of the transcripts—as given by transcribers Josiah Rogerson and Waddington Cook, whom Judge Jacob S. Boreman hired to transcribe Patterson’s shorthand—seems straightforward: (1) Patterson transcribed only the testimony portion of the second trial for Lee’s appeal in early 1877.4 (2) Rogerson began to transcribe his own shorthand into the Rogerson 1 transcript in 1883.5 (3) Judge Boreman, who presided over both Lee trials, desired to publish the trial transcripts for profit. He hired Patterson’s former student, Cook, to transcribe Patterson’s shorthand notes; the result became known as the Boreman transcript.6 Careful analysis of the original shorthand and resulting transcripts reveals a far more complex story. The Shorthand Records and Initial Transcripts Neither Patterson nor Rogerson recorded every word uttered in the courtroom. While there is substantial overlap, each man recorded some part of the courtroom proceedings that the other missed. In Annie Hoge’s testimony about Indians, for example, each reporter caught essential, but different, parts of what she said.7 Adam Patterson’s Shorthand (PS) Adam Patterson, official court reporter for both Lee trials, recorded the first John D. Lee trial in fourteen notebooks, eight of which are extant.8 He recorded the second Lee trial in six notebooks, the last five of which are extant.9 Patterson had some difficulty writing fast enough to keep up with court proceedings and therefore missed phrases, usually leaving a space to indicate the omission.10 His shorthand was not precisely written and is often difficult to transcribe. He made few additions to his own shorthand manuscript; exceptions are a few additions of q and a to designate questions and answers, as well as an occasional phrase written above the line. Rogerson later made extensive additions to 2 Patterson’s shorthand, however, especially from the first trial: he added numerous q’s and a’s; punctuation; and slash marks (/) to divide phrases.11 Rogerson wrote longhand transcriptions (some of which were incorrect) above many of Patterson’s shorthand markings, and he may have added some brief shorthand phrases.12 Transcripts by Adam Patterson Adam Patterson intended to transcribe and publish his shorthand notes for the first trial immediately after the trial closed. The Deseret News wryly reported that he solicited “aid from the loyal citizens of Southern Utah” to insure publication, so that he and others could make “money directly by the sale of the book” and make additional “money indirectly by using the book to create political capital.” A committee was formed to proceed with the publication plans; yet apparently nothing came to fruition.13 There is no evidence that Patterson actually transcribed or published any of his shorthand notes from that trial.14 By direction of the court, when John D. Lee appealed his conviction, Patterson transcribed the testimony portion of the second trial.15 Patterson’s original transcript is not extant; however, it presumably is the source for the partial transcript of the second trial published by Lee’s attorney, William W. Bishop, in the 1877 Mormonism Unveiled.16 Bishop prepared Lee’s appeal, and would have had access to this transcript. Patterson died in San Francisco on August 22, 1886, without making any other transcripts of his shorthand record of the Lee trials.17 3 Mormonism Unveiled: Partial Transcript of Lee’s Second Trial (MU) William W. Bishop, Lee’s attorney in both trials, published a partial transcript of the second trial in Lee’s autobiography, Mormonism Unveiled, in 1877. This transcript closely follows Patterson’s shorthand; it apparently was taken from the transcript of the second trial that the court ordered Patterson to make for its use in Lee’s appeal.18 However, the partial transcript in Mormonism Unveiled omits portions of some witnesses’ testimony, most legal arguments, and all opening and closing arguments, including Bishop’s statement that the defense would bring no witnesses. It also omits testimony that was unfavorable to Lee, including all of James Haslam’s testimony and part of Nephi Johnson’s.19 Some passages were altered by adding material or commentary not found in the shorthand. For example: Patterson Shorthand Mormonism Unveiled [No related text in shorthand] The cross-examination was continued at great length, but the witness [Nephi Johnson] could not, or would not recollect anything except what he had been advised by his priestly rulers to swear to. Nephi Johnson is a fair sample of the willing tools who commit crimes for Christ’s sake, and swear falsely for their own sake.20 4 [No related text in shorthand] BISHOP—We obJect to the question [regarding Lee’s current attitude towards Mormonism]; it is not expected that a man shall be called a criminal for giving up his belief in such a Church.21 Boreman Transcript (BT) Shortly after Adam Patterson died, Judge Jacob S. Boreman, who hoped to publish the proceedings of both trials for profit, hired Patterson’s only student, Waddington L. Cook, to transcribe Patterson’s shorthand. Josiah Rogerson assisted Cook in this transcription. These facts are well established through surviving correspondence and through the documents themselves. Cook and Rogerson, however, left different and at times conflicting accounts of the process of creating the Boreman transcript. Cook recorded accounts of his work on the Boreman transcript in correspondence with historian Juanita Brooks and in an affidavit he made when he donated his carbon copy of the transcript to the Library of Congress.22 According to Cook, he moved to Beaver, Utah, in 1886 and became official court stenographer for Judge Boreman.23 He wrote to Brooks: “It was Judge Boreman who ordered me to make a complete transcript of the two trials of John D. Lee. There had been no complete transcript of these trials only as I did it. The Judge said he wanted to write a book on the said trials and that if I would make the transcript he 5 would give me a third of the profits of the book he would write.”24 Cook described his work: “I transcribed the whole of the two trials of John D. Lee, which consisted of about 1200 pages of typewriting. I made an official transcript of the shorthand notes of Mr. Adam Patterson who was the official reporter of the Lee trials.”25 Cook never acknowledged Rogerson’s assistance or admitted that much of the Boreman transcript was actually taken from Rogerson’s shorthand rather than Patterson’s. Josiah Rogerson recorded his account of the creation of the Boreman transcript in a letter to the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rogerson agreed that Judge Boreman hired Cook to transcribe Patterson’s shorthand, intending to publish the transcript. Cook began transcribing the “Addresses, and Speeches, on the part of the prosecution and defense.” Cook worked on the transcript in his spare time for a year in the Beaver courthouse, and then asked Rogerson if he would “assist him, in the completion of the Transcript” and bring his own shorthand notes, which Rogerson “could more readily decipher, than Pattersons.” Rogerson “assisted him, in this manner, several nights in a week during several months of the winter, of 1885.”26 Their work apparently halted for a time but recommenced in 1888 in Salt Lake City, when they transcribed the closing argument of prosecutor Robert N. Baskin from Lee’s first trial. Cook paid Rogerson “a nominal sum per hour for my services, as he could reasonably afford, realizing that it was only a venture at that time.”27 Differing patterns of typographical errors in the Rogerson and Boreman transcripts support Cook’s assertion that he typed the latter. A review of patterns of typographical errors shows Cook also typed Robert N. Baskin’s closing argument in Lee’s first trial.28 The Boreman transcript and the transcription of Baskin’s closing argument contain a greater 6 number of typographical errors, crossouts, and typeovers than do transcripts typed by Rogerson.29 Cook’s handwritten corrections in the Boreman transcript, sometimes changing an accurate transcription to an inaccurate one, show his involvement in proofreading and correcting the document. Some of his edits changed a transcription based on Rogerson’s shorthand to match Patterson’s shorthand. Other changes are at variance with any of the shorthand records. For example, during the first trial both shorthand accounts record that William W. Bishop asked about the Indians firing upon the emigrants in the days before the massacre. Cook altered the text of the transcript in longhand to read that the Indians had been “fired firing upon by the emigrants.”30 The Patterson and Rogerson shorthand notes and the Boreman transcript itself support Rogerson’s account of his involvement and the use of his shorthand notes in the transcription process.

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